Packer seeks damages after injury from moving soft drink

IT may have been a soft drink, but it's put one Rockhampton employee in a hard place.

Emma-Jean Dahler has taken legal action against supermarket giant Woolworths after she claims a series of workplace incidents in 2012 left her with ongoing back problems.

According to a claim lodged in the Rockhampton District Court earlier this month, the 26-year-old packer was restocking the soft drink aisle at the Allenstown store by moving 10kg cartons from a trolley to the shelves when she felt a "sudden and sharp pain in the lower back".

A few months later, Ms Dahler said she experienced further pain while unpacking pallets of stock in the freezer.

This, she claims, significantly exacerbated the injury to her lumbar spine.

Ms Dhaler is alleging Woolworths breached its duty of care by failing to provide a safe place to work and adequate assistance and training in her duties. She is claiming $273,033.58 in damages for past and future economic loss.

Both parties were unable to comment as the matter is before the courts.